A SLATE roof on a new North Wales community hospital could cost £400,000 or even see the scheme shelved, planners were warned last night.

Gywnedd Council is demanding the new £13.5m Tremadog hospital must be roofed in local slate.

Architects are proposing a metal roof for the hospital, serving east Dwyfor and north Meirionnydd.

Work is expected to start this spring, with the doors opening in 2007.

The latest controversy could put the start date back or even see the whole scheme shelved, say North West Wales NHS trust, because Assembly backing could disappear.

Outline planning approval was given by the council's Dwyfor Area planning committee last July.

But the trust didn't receive the documents until last month, when shocked officers discovered the condition of a slate roof.

They have now met council planners to ask for the condition to be removed, saying it could cost £400,000.

Next week councillors will be asked to rule on the row.

The chairman of the local hospital action committee, Dr John Jones-Morris, warned: "My fears are that if planners insist on a slate roof we may lose the hospital altogether. The Welsh Assembly may be tempted to use the money elsewhere.

"Planners did not insist on placing slates on the roofs of the Glaslyn Leisure Centre in Porthmadog, or the nearby Tesco and Lidl stores."

Planners say the main reason they want a slate roof is because the hospital is within a Landscape Conservation Area. They are suggesting a compromise, with only the front of the building having a slate roof.